The Jews of Cincinnati will plant a William Howard Taft Forest in Israel to commemorate the action of former President Taft in severing this country’s diplomatic relations with Czarist Russia in protest against that country’s treatment of the Jews.
The Jewish National Fund is sponsoring the campaign for funds for the forest. The presentation will be made at a dinner October 27 to Charles P. Taft, surviving son of the President. Isidor Sohifrin, Cincinnati Jewish leader, and Robert H. Taft, Jr., grandson of the late President, are co-chairmen of the dinner. Mr. Schifrin is chairman of the campaign.
William Howard Taft was a native of Cincinnati and numbered several Jews among his close personal friends including Rabbi Isaac M. Wise. In 1911, during his presidency, the United States abrogated its treaty of friendship with Russia first signed in 1832, in protest against continued Russian discrimination against Jews.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.